Push for heavy transport hub

Stuart Cumming
Reporter
Stuart studied journalism at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba. He worked briefly at Central Queensland News and Warwick Daily News. He has worked as a reporter at The Chronicle since July 2009.

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SUPPORT is growing for Toowoomba to become the nation's heavy transport capital with the proposed establishment of the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator's head office.

Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland south west regional manager Roger Gorrel said the notion to set up the national headquarters in Toowoomba had great merit.

His comments came after State Opposition Leader Annastacia Palasczuk said it made sense that the headquarters should be outside the south-east corner because most heavy vehicle activity was taking place in regional Queensland.

"It is a great opportunity for the region to be seen as a transport hub," Mr Gorrel said.

He said Toowoomba already had a sufficient volume of heavy vehicle traffic to warrant being the independent national regulatory body's headquarters.

A Lockyer Valley heavy transport company boss, who did not want to be identified, also said the idea made sense.

"To be honest, for the Toowoomba economy, it would be a bit of a godsend really," he said.

"It is worth getting in there and trying to get a bit of support behind them."

The new National Heavy Vehicle Regulator will be established from January 1 next year as an independent body responsible for regulating all vehicles in Australia larger than 4.5 tonnes.

It will have a Queensland base, which could be controlled from Brisbane or a number of other regional centres including Ipswich, Rockhampton, Mackay or Townsville. The Heavy Vehicle National Law Bill 2012, passed in the State Parliament last month, allowed for establishing the body.

Regulatory goals

A common set of laws for heavy vehicles for all states and territories.

A national safety monitoring and reporting system dedicated to heavy vehicles.